IEXPENSE - Alabama State University

iEXPENSE BASIC QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
TA=travel authorization, CA=cash advance, ER=expense report
1) When will I be able to access the new Travel and Expense Module?
All users will have until March 2, 2012 to receive training on the new system. The system will be
available to users once they complete training.
2) Can we still submit manual forms for travel?
No “pink” request to travel forms will be accepted after March 2, 2012.
“Yellow” expense reimbursement forms will be accepted only for those pink forms that were inprocess prior to March 2, 2012.
3) How do I prepare a TA with zero expenses?
All TA’s require at least one expense type and a dollar amount not equal to zero. So for TA’s
where there will be no expenses – select “miscellaneous” as the expense type and put one cent
(.01) in the amount field. You must still go into the detail screen and put a description.
4) What if my expenses will be paid partially with restricted (grant) funds and partially with
unrestricted funds?
You must prepare two separate TA’s one with the unrestricted accounting and one with the
restricted accounting.
5) How do I see what the status of my TA, CA, or ER is at any point in time?
You can select to view your TA, CA, or ER at any time. Simply select view in the Travel and
Expense Center Menu. Pull up the TA, CA, or ER to view and at the bottom of the report note
that it shows all actions as well as pending actions for that document. The pending actions are
those individuals who have not yet approved your document.
6) What if I cancel a trip – how do I remove the encumbrance from my budget?
A traveler has the option to cancel an approved TA at any time. However a TA preparer cannot
cancel a TA for someone else. So even though you may have prepared a TA for someone else,
cancellation request for another traveler will have to be made to accounting.
Call Ext 4212 to cancel grants TA or call Ext 8398 to cancel unrestricted TA.
7) If I prepay my hotel and/or registration through requisition, do I need to include those expense
categories on the online TA?
No. Any travel expenses that are processed through requisition do not need to be included on
the online TA. Example: if hotel expense is prepaid through requisition, then do not include
hotel expense line item on TA. You must still, however, submit the estimated travel expense
form as supporting documentation for your TA, where you would identify those expenses that
are to be paid through requisition.
8) What is considered a cash advance for iExpense purposes?
The term cash advance in iExpense refers to advances that are payable directly to the employee.
They do not include payments made to vendors such as for hotels and registration. Hotel and
registration prepayments are processed as described in #7 above.
When processing a cash advance through iExpense you must identify the original TA for which
the cash advance is being requested as shown below.
9) What if I submitted a TA with the wrong speedtype?
Then your options are to:
a) See where the TA is in the approval process. Have the next approver to send it back to you.
Then you can simply modify the TA and select the correct speedtype.
b) If all approvals have already taken place, then the only option is to cancel the TA and create
a new one with the correct speedtype.
10) How do I know when a check has been cut for my CA or ER?
You can determine whether a check has been cut for a particular CA or ER by viewing the CA or
ER. There will be a status that appears next to the CA or ER on the screen display. A status of
paid indicates that a CA or an ER payment has been processed by Accounts Payable.
There is also an alternate way for the traveler to view payments paid to him/her.
From the EMPLOYEE SELF SERVICE menu, select “travel and expenses” instead of travel and
expenses center.
Select to review payments
Select search and all payments made to the traveler should appear.
NOTE: if viewing payments for a traveler other than yourself, then follow the same process
through the travel and expense center (then through T&E Administration) instead of employee
self- service. In that case, be sure to enter the traveler’s employee ID to limit your search.
11) How do I process a TA for ADTRAV?
If the airfare reservation is made with Adtrav, then the traveler will prepare a separate TA for
airfare. However within this TA, the TA# for travel for the remaining expenses must be
referenced in the comment field. Once the TA for the remaining expenses is approved, then the
TA for Adtrav will be approved.
Once approved, the traveler can print the TA and forward to Adtrav.
12) How do I reserve a State Vehicle?
The process is still the same. However, you MUST prepare a separate TA for your state vehicle.
Be sure in the comment field to reference the TA with the remaining expenses for your trip. In
addition in the comment field, be sure to indicate the type of vehicle required: CAR, VAN,
BUS,SUV, etc. Also be sure to indicate the speedtype and account code in the comment field.
Then go to the view TA menu (not the print menu) and pull up the TA, print and fax to
transportation. See sample below:
13) How do I submit my supporting documentation for TA’s and ER’s?
Until the University implements the new imaging system for Travel and Expense, both TA’s and
ER’s must be printed with supporting documentation attached and forwarded either to
Accounting Department for unrestricted accounts or to Grants Accounting for restricted
accounts.
14) If I need to view a TA for someone how do I narrow my search so that I do not see everyone’s
TA’s?
This assumes that you are not the traveler. For viewing TA’s if you are the traveler – viewing
through employee self-service will narrow your search results to only your travel.
If you need to review TA’s for travel that you have prepared for someone else, then you can
perform an advanced search through the travel and expense center and narrow your search
results to the employee ID that requires viewing.
15) How do I retrieve a TA, CA, or ER in order to make changes if it is already in-process for
approval?
Once a TA, CA, or ER has been submitted, it cannot be modified by the traveler. However, if the
traveler determines that he/she needs to revise a document, then they can view the document
and determine where it is in the workflow approval process.
Once you determine who is next in line to approve, you can contact that approver and request
that they “send back” the document to the originator through the system.
Once the document in sent back, the originator can select to modify the document and make
the necessary corrections.
Note: once a document is sent back, the originator must resubmit and it must go through all of
the approval levels again.
16) How do I print a TA, CA, or ER if I am the preparer but not the traveler?
Generally, you would only be able to print TA, CA, and ER’s for travel documents where you are
the traveler. However, in certain circumstances an administrative assistant may be preparing
travel for another individual. In this case, there is a special process for printing. Initially security
would have to be set up to allow for printing other individual’s travel documents. So call either
Grants accounting X4212 or Accounting X4737 to discuss how to be set up for printing.
Once security is granted, the process for printing another individual’s TA is as follows:
Under travel and Expenses
Select Travel and Expense Center
Select either TA, CA, or ER and select the respective print icon.
In this example we have selected to print a TA.
Select a run control or if this is your first time printing, you may need to add a run control such
as the one below.
Either enter the TA number or search, then select
RUN.
Select OK.
Select “Report Manager”
Select “Administration Tab”
Select the report link
A report should generate.
17) How can I get a report of all of my outstanding travel encumbrances?
A report is available to all travelers to aid in identifying outstanding encumbrances.
Under the ASU financials menu, select “travel and expenses.”
Select travel budget activity.
The first time this is run, the traveler must add a new run control ID. Subsequent running of this
report will not require adding the run control ID, merely finding the ID.
Enter to and from date and be sure to specify the department number.
You may also specify the fund. Select RUN.
Select OK.
To access the report – Select Report Manager.
Go to the administration tab.
Select this PDF hyperlink.
A report should be generated such as the below.